Luminary: Rise of the Goonzu

Luminary Overview

Luminary: The Rise of the Goonzu is an extremely interesting and unique free to play MMORPG currently being published by IJJI. The game has both a vast PvE system and an even better in game economy. Just about every item in the game is crafted by players, as monsters only drop crafting resources that have to be used in order to make weapons, armor, potions and just about everything else. This means that players can’t simply walk up to an NPC and purchase armor or weapons, as another player has to actually craft them for it to exist in the game world. The fact is, Luminary just as an incredible amount of features, so if you’re looking for something different, then Luminary is certainly worth check out. The game doesn’t have any ‘set’ classes, but players can specialize in using certain weapons, which in turn become the game’s classes. Luminary’s weapons are:

Melee Weapons

Sword - Swords are faster than the other melee weapons but deal the least amount of damage.Spear – Average speed and average power. Spears are the most balanced weapons in the game.Axe – Perhaps the slowest weapon in the game but deals the most damage.

Ranged Weapons

Bow - Fast speed and average damage.Gun – Slower speed than a bow but it has more damage and a bit more range.

Magic Weapons

Cane – Canes are required to use spells. They are powerful but require the constant use of MP potions and other reagents, so it’s the most expensive weapon type.

Luminary Screenshots

Luminary Featured Video

Full Review

Luminary Review

By Omer Altay

Luminary: Rise of the Goonzu, or plain old Luminary for short, is an interesting 2D Fantasy MMORPG published by IJJI. The game has hands down the best player economy I’ve ever seen in an MMORPG, as it is entirely player controlled, but more on that later. Luminary also has a unique political system which allows players to actually own their own towns and allow ownership to be shared through the sale of stock. The game has an incredible amount of features and is certainly worth checking out, because there is just so much more to do in Luminary than simply grind. The game was developed by Ndoors, the same company that made Atlantica Online, so it’s not surprising that Luminary is as unique as it is.

Starting Out
Like a lot of other MMORPGs, character creation in Luminary is disappointing. I simply can’t understand why so many MMORPGs have such terrible character customization options, as looking identical to every other player in the server is sort of silly. Character creation in Luminary is perhaps the blandest of any MMORPG; players simply select one of the game’s four pre made avatars and then input their name. That’s it. Although character appearance doesn’t directly affect the game, it certainly enhances the game’s overall enjoyment. Perhaps I’m a bit spoiled after playing Perfect World, but I’ve always felt that character customization was an important aspect of a game. From the moment you log into the game you’ll always have something to do, as the game has an incredibly simple, yet great quest system.

Quests on the go
With so many free MMORPGs on the market, it’s hard to find a game with a genuinely ‘good’ quest system. Most games are loaded with ‘FedEx’ style quests where players simply deliver useless trinkets between NPCs, but quests in Luminary are surprisingly well setup. Well, maybe the quests themselves aren’t anything special, but the ways they’re delivered are. Most MMORPGs require players to return to town every time they complete a quest to get new ones, but Luminary actually brings the quests to you. Upon completing one of the game’s quests, you’ll immediately be presented with a new quest if one is available for you, so it’ll save you from going back and forth from town after every quest completion. The game’s quests usually consist of killing monsters, so they’re well worth completing as the experience gain makes them well worth it.

Friendly Community
Upon entering the world of Luminary, I was shown a list of in game ‘mentors’ that were currently logged into the game. I was given the choice of selecting one, so I randomly selected one and gave it a go. To my surprise the mentor I selected actually sent me a message within seconds of me choose them offering to answer any questions I had. After chatting with my mentor for a bit, he also offered me some starting gold and a weapon to kick start my adventure in Luminary. The fact that Luminary has players willing to help newbies is certainly a plus. I’m not sure if he was genuinely interested in helping me because he was a nice guy or because the game rewards mentors with rare items when their mentee’s reach a higher level, but either way, the system works.

It’s the Economy, Stupid!
The single most interesting aspect of Luminary is the game’s economy. Every single piece of equipment in the game was created by other players. Monsters and NPCs do not sell weapons or armor; they must be crafted by other players for them to exist in the game’s economy. The game’s market is the center piece for all transactions in the game. Players can unload the raw materials they collect while fighting monsters onto the market and other players will purchase them in order to craft items. The twist here is that, NPCs do not purchase items, weapons or armor from players for more than a fixed amount, which is incredibly low, so even the best weapon in the game will fetch for pennies at the NPC, so players have to participate in the game’s market. Unlike other games, loot dropped by NPCs is never useless ‘vendor loot’ which has no other purpose but to be sold to an NPC. All of the items dropped in Luminary serve a purpose and the most common purpose is crafting materials. The game’s crafting system is also extremely polished and vast, so if you’re looking for a game that offers much more than a grinding experience, Luminary is well worth checking out. One thing worth mentioning though is that the game has an incredible amount of inflation, so it’s better to hold onto rare items and equipment than it is to gold, as it loses value fast in the game.

Politics 1 – Town
Another extremely interesting feature in Luminary is the game’s political system. The game’s political system is broken down into two levels, towns and national. Every town in the world of Luminary is player controlled and can elect a town chief. The catch here though is that not everyone can vote, only the people who own shares of town are eligible to vote for the new chief. Each share of stock entitles the shareholder a single vote, whichever individual gets the most votes becomes the chief of that particular town. The chief of each town can appoint other municipal positions and has the power to set the tax rate in that particular town for bank fees, market transactions and storage fees. Each town has their own separate elections and their own stocks. Unfortunately, the only problem with this system is that the only people who have ‘shares’ of towns are the ones that started playing Luminary when it first came out, as shares were offered to everyone at a low price, but today people have to purchase them at the game’s stock market for exorbitant amounts if they can even find someone willing to sell their shares.

Politics 2 – National
Aside from town politics, players can elect a monarch, also called Goonzu, every 48 days. Voting is server wide and just about anyone can participate in the voting. The monarch’s power is enormous, as he can imprison any player on the server and send server wide messages. He also gets the authority to appoint five noblemen that have a variety of powers ranging from setting item subsidies to the purchasing price of items bought from NPCs. The monarch’s power is comparable to a GM, but they only hold office for a period of 48 days before another re-election. There are a few other game’s that employ similar ‘leader of the server’ sort of systems such as Archlord and Ace Online, but Luminary is the only one that does it in a purely democratic faction, by voting. The only problem with this system is that there are folks out there that will abuse it. People can easily make multiple accounts to try and ‘game’ the system to push additional votes toward their ideal candidate.

Final Verdict: Good
Luminary is certainly one of the most unique MMORPGs out there, as it has a strong emphasis on the game’s player run economy, but biggest drawback is the game’s dwindling population. If you’re looking for something that offers something other than a purely ‘grind based’ MMO, give Luminary a try.